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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2007, Issue No. 109
November 2, 2007

Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Support Secrecy News:
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** COURT AUTHORIZES SUBPOENAS OF SENIOR OFFICIALS IN AIPAC CASE
** NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN US POLICY, AND MORE FROM CRS

COURT AUTHORIZES SUBPOENAS OF SENIOR OFFICIALS IN AIPAC CASE

A federal court authorized issuance of subpoenas to more than a dozen
current and former government officials to testify in the case of two
former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who
are accused of unauthorized receipt, transmission and disclosure of
classified information.

According to the defense, the testimony of the subpoenaed officials
will show that the defendants did "nothing more than the
well-established official Washington practice of engaging in 'back
channel' communication with various non-governmental entities and
persons for the purpose of advancing U.S. foreign policy goals."

The government disputes that claim and says such testimony is
irrelevant to whether the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to obtain
and disclose classified information.

The court, however, ruled that circumstantial evidence of the official
use of "back channel" communications could be probative of the
defendants' state of mind and could show a lack of criminal intent.

Judge T.S. Ellis III therefore authorized issuance of subpoenas to the
following officials:

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State (then-National Security Advisor)

Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State

William Burns, U.S. Ambassador to Russia

Marc Grossman, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs

Lawrence Silverman, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to the
Slovak Republic

Matthew Bryza, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State

Marc Sievers, Political Officer, U.S. Embassy to Israel

David Satterfield, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and
Coordinator for Iraq (then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau
of Near Eastern Affairs)

Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisory (then-Deputy National
Security Advisory)

Elliot Abrams, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National
Security Advisory for Global Democracy Strategy Affairs

Kenneth Pollack, former Director for Persian Gulf Affairs for the
National Security Council

Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of Defense

Douglas Feith, former Undersecretary of Defense

Michael Makovsky, former employee of the Office of the Secretary of
Defense, Office of Near East and South Asia

Lawrence Franklin, former Department of Defense employee

A copy of the November 2, 2007 Memorandum Opinion in the case of United
States of America v. Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman is available
here:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/aipac/memop110207.pdf

NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN US POLICY, AND MORE FROM CRS

Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service include
the following.

"Nuclear Weapons in U.S. National Security Policy: Past, Present, and
Prospects," October 29, 2007:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL34226.pdf

"National Strategy for Combating Terrorism: Background and Issues for
Congress," November 1, 2007:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL34230.pdf

"China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities --
Background and Issues for Congress," updated October 18, 2007:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33153.pdf

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
1725 DeSales St NW, 6th floor
Washington, DC 20036

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